He held out the empty pail.
“Bless and save us!” exclaimed the lady. “What in the world are you talking about, and who is the moving man?”
“Oh, I forgot to answer your other question,” said Tommy. “No, ma’am, the dog didn’t bother me. He made friends. But the moving man is over there, where you can see the wagon,” and he pointed to it. “The horses are eating their dinner, but we haven’t any, for the man picked up the wrong pail by mistake when he came to move us this morning. We’re going to live in Riverdale, and the wheel came off our wagon.” And then Tommy told all about the accident, how his bat had been broken, and how he hoped to start a baseball nine.
“Aren’t you too young to play ball?” asked the lady.
“I’m ten, going on to eleven,” proudly answered Tommy, “and I’ve been playing ball for nearly two years now. I’m going to be the captain,” and then, thinking perhaps the lady might have forgotten about the food, he gently rattled the dinner pail.
“Oh!” she exclaimed with a laugh, “you want something to eat. Come in.”
Talking while she got out food from the cupboard, and asking questions about himself and his family, the lady soon had a nice lunch ready for Tommy to take back with him.
“I think the moving man will have enough, even for his big appetite,” she said, “and I will put some milk in the top part of the pail. You can use the cups from which to drink. And, if you can’t find the nut to hold the wheel on, perhaps there might be one in the barn that could be used. I know what it is to have your goods delayed, and your mamma will be worried if you don’t soon get to the new house. Tell the moving man to look in our barn for a wheel nut.”
“I will,” promised Tommy, and thanked her for her kindness. And, after he had gotten back to the wagon, and he and his new friend had eaten the fine lunch which the lady had put in the pail, that is exactly what the moving man did. He found in the barn a nut that just fitted the wheel axle, and it is a good thing that he did, for it is very doubtful if he could have gotten the one that was lost. He also got a thing called a “jack” from the barn, for he had to have this to lift up the wagon, so the wheel could be slipped on the axle.
“There, I guess we’re ready to go on now,” said the man as he tightened the nut. “We’ve only lost about an hour.”